The protesting and rioting never seem to end. It gets exhausting just reading and hearing about it after a while.

St. Louis, Missouri has been hit with a wave of protests after a white police officer was acquitted in the killing of an African American man while on duty. Even the Mayor’s house was vandalized by some of these people. But it doesn’t stop there.

“U2 has cancelled its St Louis concert as more protests erupt in the Missouri city over the acquittal of a white cop who shot dead a black man in 2011. Thirty-two people were arrested for the upheaval which saw at least ten officers injured including one who had his jaw broken and another who dislocated his shoulder on Friday night.

On Saturday, another 300 marched at West County Center Mall to carry on their demonstration for a second night. Macy’s closed its doors in fear of the crowd and there was an increased police presence at the mall. They are angry about the acquittal of white cop Jason Stockley who was cleared of murdering black drug dealer Anthony Smith in 2011 on Friday after years of anticipation. Many believe Stockley planted a gun in Smith’s car after he shot him six times following a high-speed car chase. The weapon had none of the dead man’s DNA on it but Stockey’s fingerprints were picked up.

Despite public outcry over the shooting, Brockley was acquitted of first degree murder yesterday and the decision sparked uproar in the Missouri town. In response to the decision, protesters stormed the mayor’s house and burned flags outside, threatening more violence on Saturday night. With this in mind, U2 issued a statement on Saturday announcing it had cancelled its concert.

‘We have been informed by the St. Louis Police Department that they are not in a position to provide the standard protection for our audience as would be expected for an event of this size.’We have also been informed that local crowd security personnel would not be at full capacity.’In light of this information, we cannot in good conscience risk our fans’ safety by proceeding with tonight’s concert. As much as we regret having to cancel, we feel it is the only acceptable course of action in the current environment,’ the band said in a statement.”

Here are the pictures of the victim and the police officer involved in the shooting that started this mayhem,

Updates were given to those concertgoers who had already purchased tickets,

“Ticketholders will be able to claim a refund online or at their place of purchase, they added. With more protests feared to take place on Saturday night, an angry crowd formed at West County Mall to march. They were non-violent and marched through the mall chanting various slogans. Friday night’s protests were decidedly more threatening.

Police found guns at some of the protest sites and were forced to put out dumpster fires in other areas. In a late night message, Mayor Lyda Krewson, who was forced to flee her home as protesters descended on it, joined St Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson to deliver a message to the city’s residents.’Our officers have been very tolerant and have used great restraint however this evening we’ve had some incidents.”

The Daily Mail also noted the response to the actual case by public officials,

“On Friday night, protesters used milk to take the pepper spray out of their eyes.
The head of the NAACP St. Louis asked President Donald Trump and the Justice Department to immediately review Stockley’s acquittal. St. Louis Public Radio reports that in a letter sent Friday, St. Louis NAACP president Adolphus Pruitt said the Justice Department needed to give immediate attention to the case ‘to get to the truth of what happened and to ensure that justice has been served.’ Pruitt said the community has lost faith in local authorities to fairly handle such cases.

He cited the remarks from Albert Watkins, the attorney for Smith’s fiancee. Watkins said ruling was ‘appallingly contrary’ to evidence in the case. Watkins said the family disagrees with the judge’s ruling that the state didn’t meet its burden of proof for a finding that the officer was guilty of murder.

Watkins and Smith’s fiance, Christina Wilson, on Thursday appealed for calm and non-violent protest no matter what verdict was issued. Wells Fargo Advisors, brokerage and investment firm Stifel and Nestle Purina PetCare all sent thousands of employees home Friday after the acquittal. And an Alzheimer’s Walk scheduled for Saturday in downtown St. Louis was postponed.”

After the protests, U2 posted an update on social media about their concert:

When someone is killed it is always a tragedy. Sometimes it happens and there is nothing you can do about it. But demonizing police officers is not the correct response to outrage. Police officers are asked to uphold and protect the rule of law and that is exactly what they do.

Instead of people assaulting them, protesting, and rioting, what they should be doing is thanking these officers for protecting the very people who scream and yell at them while simultaneously calling them names. Sure, there are bad police officers out there, just like there are all types of bad people everywhere.

They should be held accountable and called out. But that does not make every police officer bad or crooked. People need to stop looking at this issue in such a black and white way. Officers are tasked with making life and death decisions at a moment’s notice and nobody knows what that is like until they are in that situation. And until they have to make that type of decision they have no room to judge.

Scariest moment in my career. Protesters upset about not guilty verdict for an officer accused of killing a suspect, turn on me and media. pic.twitter.com/iZyvg3gX0p

Instead of rioting and protesting in the streets, they should be working at their jobs and be functioning and contributing members of society instead of whining and complaining. This is affecting no real change other than being highly disrespectful and unproductive with their time. Shame on them and the liberals.

Share if you agree what they are doing is disrespectful to police officers.

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